24 Flavors of Sichuan at The Peacock Room (Closed)
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The Peacock Room is a contemporary Sichuanese restaurant by the FCC restaurant group, the very group behind Cantonese restaurant Sense 8.
What you need to try here is the “Sichuan 24” set menu. It is a 19-course meal that takes you through the 24 flavors of Sichuan. It is only ¥350 per person.
Private room at The Peacock Room
Before that, some background on Sichuan cuisine:
Sichuan cuisine is on fire at the moment, blazing a fresh trail of international fame with its tingly peppercorns. The initial popularization of Sichuan food only started in the last 20-30 years—it’s one of the newer cuisines from China’s diverse repertoire of culinary delights to break out globally.
For the uninitiated, defining Sichuan cuisine would prove easy by the naming of the Sichuan peppercorn. The numbing spice or mala 麻辣 profile of this pepper is an unforgettable characteristic and stereotypical of Sichuan cuisine, but it is hardly the entirety of the complex cuisine.
There are in fact 24 compound flavors of Sichuan cuisine, and not all of them are have sweat-inducing levels of spice.
If you want to read more about Sichuan cuisine, I suggest reading Chengdu native Jenny Gao’s Sichuan Food Primer, one she wrote for Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown.
Sichuan 24 at The Peacock Room
The Sichuan 24 set menu (¥350) at The Peacock Room takes you through the 24 compound flavors of Sichuan cuisine. These flavors are presented in 19 courses, the names of the compound flavors listed in the captions below.
The set also includes house special Chinese rice wine and Sichuan flower green tea. (The restaurant also has an a la carte menu.)
Here is what's on the menu:
Welcome drink (only available at the bar)
Wu Xiang - Five Spice
Pork puff
Appetizers
Jiao Ma - Numbing and Burned Spice
Chicken with green fermented chili laced with numbing Sichuan peppercorn
Pao Jiao - Pickled Chili
Assorted pickled vegetables
Shao Jiao - Smoked Chili
Smoked chili with thin slices of beef shank
Suan Ni - Garlic & Chili
Thinly sliced pork and bean sprouts drenched in a sauce of chili and garlic
A favorite
Jie Mo - Mustard
Cabbage with a sauce made with fresh mustard, vinegar and sugar.
Suan La - Sour & Spicy
Sour and spicy soup with pigeon egg, diced tomato, bamboo shoots, and thinly sliced tofu
Yan Xiang - Smoky Aroma
Tea Smoked Duck, torched table side
Yu Xiang / Xian Tian / Jiang Xiang - Sweet Savory / Salty Sweet / Soy Sauce
Stuffed bun, purple potato, sticky rice
Bun stuffed with pork and mushroom, and the crisp purple potato sweet and savory.
Sticky rice with caramelized pistachio
Fu He / Jiao Yan - Complex / Salt & Pepper
Garlic steamed cod with crispy salt-and-pepper fish skin (excellent dish)
Hu Lu - Scorched Chili
Confit Wagyu with chili oil, a film of konjac at the bottom
Li Zhi / Guai Wei - Lychee (sweet sour) and “Strange” flavour
Kong Po Prawns with broad bean and crispy rice cracker
Zi Jiang - Chili and Ginger
Ginger and chili bull frog soup dumpling (such a contrast to the other dishes)
Xian Xian - Savory and umami
Steamed morel mushroom with braised winter melon, wolfberry foam, reduced chicken stock.
Hong You / Ma Jiang - Chili Oil / Sesame
Tian Shui Mian - A single knot of chewy noodle in sweet soy sauce, chili oil, sesame paste, and finely crushed peanuts.
Hong You / Ma Jiang - Chili Oil / Sesame
Dan Dan Mian - noodles with minced pork, chili oil, crushed peanuts, scallions.
Jiang Zhi - Ginger
Ginger ice cream
Tian Xiang - Sweet Aromatic
Milky avocado
Chen Pi - Dried Tangerine Peel
Sponge Cake with dried tangerine zest
House special Chinese rice wine
Kungfu tea - Sichuan flower green tea
In Summary
I can't recommend this enough. It's a great experience and such a steal for ¥350. Ambience is great, service is top-notch. Excellent for entertaining guests.
The Peacock Room
*Address: HKRI Taikoo Hui, 3/F, 180 Shimen Yi Lu, near Weihai Lu 石门一路180号3楼, 近威海路
Tel: 52391999
Hours: 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-1am
*Book now with Chope
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About Rachel Gouk
Founder & Editor, Nomfluence
Rachel Gouk is a seasoned dining journalist based in Shanghai with over a decade of experience covering food culture, restaurant developments, and the Asian culinary landscape.
